Property owner claims city has vendetta

Tolleson resident Richard East has lost access to a major portion of his property, something he blames on actions by the city in retribution for his activism.

The 59-year-old disabled man hasn't lost all the access to his one-acre plot, just what he needs to get a hay-delivery truck onto his land and to get his camper out of his backyard.

Tolleson cut off access to his two side gates when the city expanded 91st Avenue by three lanes, East says.

Then the city took away his main front gate when it tore down his fence and gate and replaced it with a block wall, according to East.

East says that the fence and gate were on his property, not the city's. He hired a surveyor, who verified that.

Despite repeated requests for comment Tolleson city attorney Scott Ruby did not return calls by The Republic. City Manager Reyes Medrano Jr. said he would love to comment on the issue because there is a very simple explanation. But because he believes East is going to sue the city, he declined to comment.

Tolleson blocked the front gate about five weeks ago, East said.

"Two city officials showed up and said, 'We are going to tear down your fence and put up a block wall. It's on our right of way, and there's nothing you can do about it.' I said, 'When?' and they said, 'Right now.'"

And then the city did just that, he said, not even giving him time to move his camper, which is now trapped in his back yard.

Survey documents indicate that the land the city claimed was its right of way is actually East's property.

East said he was told by a lawyer that the city can condemn his land and take the property where his front fence once stood, so a legal fight may not be worthwhile financially.

Tim Keller, the executive director of the Institute for Justice Arizona Chapter, a public-interest law firm, said what the city has done doesn't sound right.

"It sounds like government gone wild," Keller said.

Any time the government takes your property, it owes you compensation, he said.

And if it builds a wall on your land and denies you access to your property, then the property owner may have also suffered damages and may deserve compensation under the Arizona Constitution, he said.

"That would be my initial reaction, that he would have a quite a strong case," Keller said.

He also wondered how the city would be able to condemn East's land when it wasn't taken out of necessity to widen the road.

"Under Arizona law, in order for a municipality to condemn land, Number 1, it must be for a public use, and, 2, it has to be necessary for that public use," Keller said.

East said his problems with the city began three years ago when Tolleson widened 91st Avenue to five lanes. East was a leader in opposing that and a leader behind two failed initiatives related to the expansion.

To widen the street, the city would have to destroy about 50 pecan trees. Several residents opposed that.

Some believed that a city of 6,000 didn't need a five-lane road, East said. While the initiatives failed, the Tolleson City Council voted to expand the road to three lanes instead of five.

But East says the city hasn't forgotten his activism, and he accuses city leaders of singling him out for retribution.

East, who is disabled, used the gates off 91st Avenue to deliver hay to his acre of land, where he raises several cows. He built his home there in 1976.

"Now I can't get my hay delivered," he said.

With two gates rendered useless and another eliminated the hay will have to unloaded by hand in front of his house and moved to the back. That's work East says he will now have to pay for because his disability leaves him unable to do it, he said.

East said the city claimed that allowing him access to his land off 91st Avenue would be unsafe. East wonders, then, why others, some on his side of the street and others on the other side, got access to their land and had turndowns built by the city so they could drive onto and off their land from 91st Avenue.

In fact, across the street from his side gates, a home has a turndown giving it access onto 91st Avenue.

East said he offered to pay for a turndown and to reinforce the sidewalk that is in front of his side gates and to build a bridge over a historic ditch that runs along his side of the street.

The city refused his offers, he said.

"I truly believe they are being vindictive against me," East said.

He said that the city told him that he couldn't have his gate on Lillian Lane because it was too close to 91st Avenue. Several properties off 91st Avenue have driveways closer to 91st Avenue than East's gate.

Tolleson resident Richard East stands in front of what is left of his gate after the city tore it down and replaced it with the block wall behind him, which, in effect, destroyed access to his property behind his home.